Sharks clinch playoff berth with shutout of Stars

SAN JOSE, Calif.(AP) -- Although Evgeni Nabokov gets visibly
uncomfortable in the spotlight, the San Jose goalie allowed
himself to enjoy it for a moment after his 50th career shutout.

Nabokov just hopes his fellow Sharks will keep taking the
attention away from him over the next few weeks as they build
toward a sixth straight playoff run.

Nabokov made 27 saves for his third shutout of the season, and
the Sharks clinched a playoff berth while climbing back atop the
Western Conference standings with a 3-0 victory over the Dallas
Stars on Thursday night.

"I wanted to get this one out of the (way), but I think it's
more important for the way we played," Nabokov said with a
shrug. "Maybe the shutout will help, I don't know."

Defensemen Dan Boyle and Rob Blake scored power-play goals in
the second period for San Jose, which has won two straight after
an 0-5-1 skid over the previous 10 days. Nabokov took each of
the Sharks' five regulation losses during the skid, giving up 19
goals and worrying fans about his playoff readiness.

"It's a building process, getting ready for the playoffs,"
Nabokov said. "I think that's more important, and that's what we
wanted to do. ... We can play this way, where we don't have many
turnovers and we don't give up too many odd-man rushes, if any."

Just as he's done in previous seasons, Nabokov is pulling
himself out of a late-season funk while lifting his teammates.
He has 39 victories to tie Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick and
Phoenix's Ilya Bryzgalov for the second-most in the league
behind New Jersey's Martin Brodeur (40).

This shutout wasn't the toughest of his career, but it included
a handful of stunning saves, including a sprawling breakaway
stop in the final minute.

With sturdy defense and 41 shots on Dallas goalie Marty Turco,
the Sharks formally clinched their another postseason trip while
earning their 100th point in the first of three games at the
Shark Tank in four days. San Jose, which has four straight
100-point seasons, also jumped one point ahead of Chicago, which
has a game in hand on the Sharks.

"As much as it's about us coming out of the forest, it's great
to see Nabby only giving up one goal in the last two games,"
Sharks coach Todd McLellan said.

Logan Couture scored his second NHL goal in the third period for
the Sharks, whose power play had managed just one goal during
the just-completed six-game trip before connecting twice against
Dallas, which has one of the NHL's worst penalty-killing units.

"Yeah, (penalty-killing) is a concern," Dallas coach Marc
Crawford said. "We couldn't win a draw tonight, which was
significant. At least we had lots of opportunities to work on it
tonight. ... The players have to get a feel for what is being
called, and that was very tough tonight, very tough."

Turco stopped 38 shots for the 10th-place Stars, who are nine
points behind Detroit for the West's final playoff spot with
eight games to play - and the Red Wings have a game in hand.
Dallas' near-.500 play over the past two weeks simply hasn't
been enough to keep up with the surging Wings.

"Marty played well," Stars defenseman Nicklas Grossman said. "He
made a lot of saves for us. We have to help him out a little
bit. ... We had a few penalties called against us and they took
advantage and we had to start chasing the game. Their goalie
played extremely well."

San Jose's skid started with an overtime home loss to lowly
Florida and went on to include losses to four more teams likely
to miss the playoffs: Anaheim, Dallas, Calgary and Edmonton. The
slump ended with a win at Minnesota earlier this week, and
McLellan stuck with the same reconfigured lines from that game.

"Obviously, we learned something there," McLellan said of
Minnesota. "We used that same recipe again tonight, and now it's
(about) how long can we hold on to that recipe and continue
playing this way, because it is the right way to play."

Dallas annually is among the Sharks' toughest opponents, winning
nine of its previous 12 games in San Jose - but without Mike
Modano, who had an appendectomy 10 days ago, the Stars weren't
as intimidating.

After Boyle scored his 400th point early in the second period,
Blake added another power-play goal less than 3 minutes later
when a rebound of Patrick Marleau's shot ricocheted right to him
in the slot. The San Jose captain's goal was his first in 16
games since Feb. 6 - and the 135th power-play goal of his
career, tying him with Paul Coffey for the career NHL lead.

NOTES: Dallas lost RW Krystofer Barch to a skate cut on the back
of his leg. Crawford wasn't certain of the injury's severity.
... Blake is the 10th-leading goal-scorer among defensemen in
NHL history (239). He is 18th in points among defensemen (772).
... Sharks RW Jed Ortmeyer played in his 300th NHL game after
missing the previous three games because of a lower-body injury.
C Scott Nichol sat out with an upper-body injury.